Li Family Gift Supports Wrestling Center

A recent generous donation from the Li/Wang family has added to the momentum around investments to advance athletics facilities at Northfield Mount Hermon.

NMH’s multisport athletics facility has been named the Li Wrestling Center, in recognition of a $1.5 million commitment from the family. The facility, which opened in 2022, holds special significance for the family, since their two sons were members of the wrestling team during their years at NMH.

At NMH, “our children each found the fields and goals they hope to pursue in the future,” Dong Li said. “NMH provided them with resources to explore their interests outside of classes in athletics and higher academics.” The Li sons are enjoying their college lives now, he added.

Through the gift, Li said, “I hope to provide even better facilities and resources for the students at NMH. At the same time, I also want to set an example for my own children by showing them the importance of giving back and helping others when you have the ability to do so.”

The family’s gift supports This Place, This Moment: The Campaign for Northfield Mount Hermon, which seeks to raise $225 million by 2026. One of the campaign priorities is improvements to campus facilities, to enhance students’ academic and residential experience. 

The facility supports NMH wrestlers, who enjoyed a strong competitive season this year: The coed team won the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council Class A championship and took sixth place in the National Prep Wrestling Championship. In addition, the girls’ team finished in second place in its NEPSAC division, and both the boys’ and girls’ teams finished second in the New England Preparatory School Wrestling Association.

The Li Wrestling Center is one of several recent exciting developments in NMH’s athletics spaces. This spring, the school announced plans to build a new enclosed hockey arena where the boys’ and girl’s teams will train, practice, and compete. The arena will serve the entire school community with recreational skating and, in the offseason, space for other athletics and recreational activities. The existing McCollum Hockey Arena, meanwhile, will be converted into a fieldhouse, with four basketball and tennis courts as well as multipurpose recreational space.

These new developments come on the heels of the new Calagione Fitness Center, a 6,000-square-foot space available to all students, which opened in 2021, and the Draper Riverhouse, home to NMH’s rowing program, which opened the previous year.

For the Li family, the gift is an acknowledgement of what the school has meant to them. “We loved the beautiful campus at NMH on our first visit in 2017, and we have loved the diverse community at NMH,” Li said. “We believed the environment, combined with an education for the head, heart, and hand, would provide a holistic education to help cultivate our children’s broad vision and perspective. We are even dreaming of our grandchildren at NMH, too! …

“I hope that more outstanding students and families will graduate from NMH and, in the future, give back to society and their alma mater,” he added.